A few hours later... Scott returned. 

I hadn’t told anyone he was coming back. 

I didn’t tell Ace, or Mary, or any of the other staff in the house, not after what I’d heard that morning, after the way their voices had curled around my name like something rotten, I hadn’t felt generous enough to offer them preparation. Let them be caught exactly as they were. 

I stood near the foyer when the front door opened. The staff were scattered. Some in the back halls, some near ...